How do I get a new website?
To request a new Drupal 7 website please fill out an on-line Website Service Request form.
Let us know what name you would like for your site, whether you are converting an existing Drupal 6 site, and list the people who should have editing access to the site. You may be contacted requesting further information about how your site will fit into the overall organization of sites.
Your site will be created on our staging server. This server is not live to the public. You can take your time developing your site and its content. You will be emailed further information about your new site and the support available for content editors.
What are the security warnings I see on my page?
From time to time you may see security warnings at the top of your page while in editing mode.
For example:
These security warnings are addressed by IT Services behind the scenes. You can safely ignore them. You should ensure that whatever browser you use for editing your Drupal site is kept up-to-date.
What browser is best for Drupal?
Drupal was developed to be used on all browsers, but you do need to keep your browser up-to-date for the best user experience. Our university editors have noticed that occasionally there are small glitches when using Safari on a macOS. As an overall recommendation, the smoothest user experience seems to occur on Firefox.
Why do I keep getting logged out?
Drupal tracks your entry and exit from sites and uses that information to create versions that can be rolled back to in case of error or technical issue.
If you use the same browser to go back and forth from one Drupal site to another Drupal site the system thinks you are signing out of one and signing into the other.
So, you will keep losing your initial log-in.
It is recommended that you use two different browsers if you need to go back and forth between sites.
Why are items missing from my menus or pages?
There have been some isolated instances where parts of the Drupal system have been missing when editors signed into their sites.
Specifically:
1) Structure -> Blocks menu item is missing
2) The editing buttons on the body copy window are missing (bold, italic, paste etc.)
In both cases it has been tracked back to an issue with the initial site creation.
If you see these problems in your site please place a Web Service Request and it can be corrected for you.
What is "going live"?
When you need a brand new website, or are converting a site from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7, a site will be created for you on the university's staging server. This server is not accessible to the public and the pages you create are not live. This gives you an environment where you can try out different options, layouts etc. and take your time developing your site without worrying about people accessing the information.
When you have completed your site and have all the information you want displayed in the way you want you place a request for your site to go live.
IT Services will move your site from the staging server to the normal production server and your pages will then be live to the public. The URL for your site will change from staging.uwindsor.ca/yoursitename to www.uwindsor.ca/yoursitename.
The technical process of making your site live will normally take 24-48 hours.
However, please note that before the technical process of going live can take place, PAC must conduct a site review. Your site will be checked against a variety of guidelines and legislation that university websites must meet. The review process can take multiple days depending on the size of your site and how many corrections are needed.
Your site cannot go live until it passes a site review.
What is a site review or audit?
New Drupal 7 sites must go through a site review by PAC before they will be approved to go live.
Your entire website will be reviewed page-by-page to ensure it meets AODA guidelines, W3C requirements and other external and internal guidelines that all university websites must meet. It is not expected that every content editor will keep track of all these guidelines. It is normal to have corrections that need to be made before your site can go live.
A site review can take multiple days depending on the size of your site and the number of corrections that will need to be made before receiving approval to go live. Please allow time for a site review in your timelines.
A site review cannot be skipped.
You are strongly encouraged to ask PAC to perform a preliminary review of your first dozen pages. In that way you do not end up duplicating mistakes across your entire website.
Existing Drupal 7 sites will be audited from time to time on a random basis to ensure compliance with the same requirements.
What is AODA?
The purpose of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is to ensure that all Ontarians have fair and equitable access to programs and services and to improve opportunities for persons with disabilities. The Act will eventually cover all of these areas:
- Customer Service Standards
- Information and Communication
- Employment
- Transportation
- Built Environment
Under the Information and Communication section there are legal requirements that our websites must meet under the Act.
This includes requirements for colour contrast, font use, header use, table construction, text formatting, image formatting, video closed captioning and more. Your website will be reviewed to make sure it is compliant with the Act before going live.